


There He Stands Behind Our Wall, Gazing Through The Window

by periwinklepromise



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, Happy Ending, Happy High Holy Days!, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, I love Jewish Tony goshdarnit and who better to teach him about his Jewishness than Jewish Rhodey?, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Howard Stark, Jewish Identity, Jewish James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Jewish Tony Stark, Light Angst, M/M, POV Tony Stark, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 02:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20940596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: He stared into the flame and tried not to look too morose. He built a circuit board when he was four, but he didn't know anything about a people that had existed for thousands of years.He felt ferociously alone.





	There He Stands Behind Our Wall, Gazing Through The Window

**Author's Note:**

> Written "for" the Whumptober prompt Isolation, but I've been wanting to write this for a while.
> 
> Title comes from the Song of Songs ... because I couldn't help myself.
> 
> Tony has been aged down for this fic, because even genius inventors cannot get one bachelor's and two master's degrees in just two calendar years. So for our purposes, Tony is fourteen and just working on his bachelor's. But Rosh Hashanah really was in September in 1984!

Anthony Edward Stark was Jewish.

… Technically.

Howard raised him to be disdainful of anything resembling belief, dismissed it all as magic, and there was no such thing as magic.

But there was such a thing as reputation, and Howard Stark cared a very great deal about his reputation. So he never outright spoke out against his Jewishness … but he did not loudly proclaim his heritage either. He insisted on having Maria convert before their wedding, but he hadn't cared overly much how she worshiped, just as long as she stayed out of his way. 

Tony knew just enough Hebrew to have had his bar mitzvah, and that was the extent of his knowledge about anything Jewish. That was the way Howard had wanted it.

Everything in his life had been the way Howard had wanted it. He hadn't had any friends growing up, because Howard didn't see any need for it. And maybe there hadn't been a need for it. But it would have been nice, he thought. To have friends. 

But Tony was moving to Cambridge now. He wouldn't have time for friends at MIT, not if he was going to graduate according to Howard's timetable. And everything was done to Howard's timetable, no matter how much Tony hated it. He never really had a say. He had to be mindful of his father's reputation, after all.

Sometimes, though, Tony really wished he knew more about being Jewish.

*

The open door to his dormroom had two tags taped to it, one with his name, and another with_ James Rhodes_. He hadn't received any information about his roommate, but as long as he left him alone, he wouldn't mind him. 

Or bought him alcohol. He wouldn't be able to steal his father's anymore, and he looked far too young to use a fake ID. Money could only take him so far with official authorities, but a college kid stuck with a fourteen-year-old roommate? Money could take him far enough.

Tony knocked on the door to announce himself and walked in to see both sides of the room perfectly made. His belongings had been prepared by his father's staff prior to his arrival, but he hadn't expected a freshman to care so much.

Then someone he assumed was James Rhodes came into the room from the bathroom they would share, a pleasant enough smile on his face. He was tall, dark, and amazingly handsome, and Tony forced a hard blink and reset his brain.

“Hello, you must be James Rhodes. I'm your roommate, Tony Stark. Yes, I'm that kind of Stark. Just call me Tony.”

James shook his hand, sat on his own bed as Tony adjusted to the new living space, and then offered to go to the cafeteria with him to get an early lunch. 

James was going to study engineering too, probably mechanical or electrical, but he wasn't sure yet. Tony of course already knew which degrees he would be earning and the time Howard had allotted for them. He knew better to reveal that much. If James wasn't on his father's payroll yet, he would be soon; he couldn't be trusted.

*

But James did not act like someone being paid to keep tabs on him. James never focused suspicious glares on him, never took questionable phone calls, and didn't seem to gain a sudden influx of disposable income. So either he was exceedingly professional, or he wasn't spying on Tony.

The first Friday they lived together, Tony was hoping he would go out somewhere so that Tony could work on the code for an interactive computer simulation he'd been considering. But James said he was going to stay in and ... light candles?

“Mostly women do this for their families. But most people say if a man is by himself for Shabbos, he can light the candles himself. Normally, it's just for other Jews, but would you like me to light one for you too?” James offered.

“I'm Jewish,” he said without thinking. He amended quickly, “Kind of. So it'd probably be okay.”

James's face lit up. “Yeah? Cool. Here, gimme a second.” James turned to the candles, lit them easily … then fluttered his hands oddly, covered his eyes, and began singing. Kind of. Maybe it was praying? Tony wasn't sure. It had a strange beat, slow but not sad, and Tony didn't know if he was supposed to cover his eyes too or not, so he didn't. 

Then James stopped singing, moved his hands down, and stared at the candles for a moment or two. In the dim light, his eyes gleamed. Then he looked back to Tony and perked up. “So you're Jewish? Why didn't you say anything?”

Tony shrugged. “I don't know. I don't really know anything about being Jewish. It wasn't a big deal to my parents. I had a bar mitzvah last year, but that's pretty much it.”

James nodded for a second, then stopped. “You're only fourteen?”

Tony couldn't help himself; his shoulders hunched up and he forced a grimace on his face. “That a problem?”

“No, it's fine,” James scrubbed a hand down his face. “I just didn't realize you were so young. You're, what, some kind of genius?”

Tony smiled sadly. “Something like that.” He stared into the flame and tried not to look too morose. He built a circuit board when he was four, but he didn't know anything about a people that had existed for thousands of years. 

He felt ferociously alone. 

*

“What is _that_?” Tony wanted to scrub at his ear in confusion.

“Rosh Hashanah,” Rhodey said, slower and with heavier emphasis. “It's the celebration of the new year.”

“But it's September,” Tony reminded him. 

“This year, anyway. Sometimes it's in October. But I meant for the Jewish calendar. So I'll take a couple days off school, go to shul, and eat a lot of apples and honey.”

“Why?”

Rhodey shrugged. “It's tradition. Would you like to come along? You can stay with me; my mother would love to have you. It's a couple days for Rosh Hashanah and then a couple days the next week for Yom Kippur.”

“Um. I can't miss class.”

“Yes, you can. You're Jewish. Your professors have to give you the time off, _and_ allow you to make up any missed work.”

Some soft, glowing thing lit up in Tony's chest. “Yeah. Yeah, okay, I'll talk to my professors.” It was probably dumb. It was probably going to be boring stuff in a stuffy room with a bunch of old people who would pinch his cheeks and exclaim how cute he was. Or with a bunch of middle-aged people who would recognize him and try to ingratiate themselves to the Starks. As if Tony had any control over his father's business.

Rhodey beamed at him, and Tony knew he'd trusted the right person. 

*

It turned out there were roughly a million Jewish holidays in the fall. But Rhodey kept including him, kept explaining everything calmly and not ever getting frustrated that he didn't already know, kept lighting candles on Fridays. And Tony kept going along with him, kept reading books from the public library about Jewish history and culture, kept wanting to learn more and see more and be a part of something_ more_.


End file.
